Carbohydrates or glycans linked to the surface of proteins play an important role by ensuring correct cellular and protein function and mediating protein folding, signaling, and other important cellular systems. The analysis of glycans is challenging, however, and involves time consuming sample preparation and complex, low-throughput analytical techniques. There is a need for new and improved apparatuses, methods, and computer program products that efficiently and simply allow the performance of hi-throughput analysis of glycans while retaining sufficient resolution and sensitivity. Such a need is especially applicable in numerous fields, including in academic and industrial research and in bioproduction and pharmaceutical industries, for example, where large numbers of glycans need to be analyzed rapidly and efficiently.
The challenge facing the carbohydrate analyst is formidable. Unlike proteins and DNA, where molecular structure is determined by the linear sequence of amino acids or nucleotide bases, carbohydrates are branched and have additional variable features. The fundamental data required to fully characterize a carbohydrate structure are the monosaccharide composition, the order, number, configuration, and ring form of the saccharide residues found in the glycan cleaved from the glycoconjugate, including the position and character of any substituent groups on any residue, the positions of the interresidue linkages including any branching points, and the configuration of the glycosidic linkages. Improved workflows and increased selectivity of glycan cleavage, modification and detection are needed.
Various patents, patent applications, and other publications are referred to herein, all of which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference. In addition, the following standard reference works are incorporated herein by reference: Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., edition as of October 2007; Sambrook, Russell, and Sambrook, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 3rd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, 2001. In the event of a conflict between the instant specification and any document incorporated by reference, the specification shall control, it being understood that the determination of whether a conflict or inconsistency exists is within the discretion of the inventors and can be made at any time.
Additional features and advantages of the present teachings will be evident from the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or can be learned by practice of the present teachings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing summary and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are intended to provide further explanation of the present teachings without limiting the present teachings.